BY STAFF REPORTER
The world has been marking the International Women’s Day in March 8. The day celebrates women for their contribution to the wellbeing of the world while tries to bring into focus the pressing issues women face these days. Despite little headways, women remain significantly behind men in different spheres.
Generally speaking, women encounter different challenges limiting their ability in climbing the ladder of success and contributing to global socioeconomic developments.
Despite the hurdles, in many instances, women in different corners of the world have accomplished remarkable success breaking the barriers and withstanding the wide ranges of burdens they shoulder. Some have been able to stand shoulder high and set a model for the entire population. In fact, if supported well and provided with equal opportunity, women can still overcome the barriers and make their dream a reality.
Formulating the right policies and empowering women are among the pivotal works that the world should double its efforts on to narrow down the gap exists in the political participation of women and men. This segment of society lags behind men in many frontiers and their participations in political matters remain largely poor. The situation is worse in the developing world as they live under men dominated political culture.
Beset by wide-ranges of socioeconomic and political problems, women in African nations live in an equal world. They still face layers of obstacles especially in terms of political participation. The problem is even worse in African countries that have limited resources and poor policy intervention. Ethiopia is no different. Women’s engagements in political matters and government role have been very low compared to men. Various global and local factors are ascribable to the problem.
Though much remains to be done, there have been slight progresses over the last couple of years. The government has been taking different initiatives to increase the participation of women in political arena and pull more women to different levels of government posts.
Since the reform, the country has been witnessing the number of women rising in to senior government positions. And, today Ethiopian women have better representations both at the House of Peoples Representatives and Council of Ministers. The share of seats held by women in parliament also saw upward trajectory. The gender gap in the cabinet has also upped. However, their participation remains stumpy in the political landscape.
It is fair to acknowledge the efforts of some political parties though in trying to propel women into middle level positions. In fact, the political landscape is not the only one that faced with the problem. The number of women in activism is also very few. Also, a serious problem is that women, who struggle to keep the balance between family and work and not to lose their focus in either one of them, find it difficult to have a strong voice in national politics.
In addition to serving all traditional roles, society also expects modern women to have strong voice in the political and other crosscutting issues. Most vividly, political discourse which doesn’t allow sufficient attention to the issues of women, insufficient focus to political empowerment of women is also another crosscutting issue that needs more works. Otherwise, opposite of this will have a dire repercussion not only just in the lives of women but also the entire community. Democratization and inclusive politics cannot be ensured without the participation of women.
It is a stark irony that women, who have an irreplaceable role in transforming the community, are bystanders of their own issues. According to a 2019 report by the world economic forum, Ethiopia held 16th place in the world on women’s political participation.
The slight progress made in the last couples of years has been ascribable to the new leadership that picked dozens of strong women into senior position clinching the roles in electoral board and the prestigious position of presidency.
Yet, compared to their number and contribution to the wellbeing of the entire community, women are underrepresented in political parties. The men dominated political culture of the country to this day clamor for elevated women’s role both in the membership and leadership.
In fact, there have been few ordinary women who accomplished extraordinary achievements, breaking all the barriers along the course. Birtukan, who once was a key opposition political figure in the controversial 2005 election, rose to the essential position on the heels of the reform and she sets an undisputed example to women wishing to pursue a political career.
In another milestone for the country, Sahlework Zewedie, who also cultivated herself to be a career diplomat, is Ethiopia’s first president. These appointments are emboldening and present an essential opportunity for better and yet it requires more efforts from all stakeholders to keep the momentum.
As a matter of fact, the ruling Prosperity Party has been on the front burner in bringing more women in most of its structures to front places. Earning huge acclamation for the progress, there seems to be more guts from the ruling side’s to recruit more women leaders in the years to come. The party has women league branches in which it mobilizes, organizes and recruits women leaders accordingly.
Despite the upward trajectory, yet women’s participation in the political frontiers remains major issues of concern both in the ruling and opposition parties. A political culture dominated by patriarchy, political violence and intensive persecution, increased regimentation of social life which makes independent women civil society organization difficult, absence of strong women’s network and movement, social, economic and cultural burdens and limited interest to be involved in politics have long been the key barriers affecting the women’s participation.
Particularly, opposition political parties have not been in the position to follow the same path. This has to do with the financial and technical and structural problems of the parties. The opposition parties’ weakness adds another challenge to the long lingering political failure in the country, having a visible impact on the party’s effort to representing more women in their party’s structures.
Supporting and strengthening civil society organizations especially independent women organizations, programs and initiatives aimed at empowering women in Ethiopia, establishing and strengthening initiatives among women in the Diaspora and promoting democratic culture and tolerance, working advocacy in national and international networking are the most recommended steps to boost the participation of women in political activities.
Although there have been few women who broke the barriers and overcome mostly patriarchal political cultures, the participation and representation of women in the political arena call rather more works ahead. It is clear that the world would fail significantly to achieve its priorities without an active participation of the women who account for portion of the global population.
The Ethiopian March 8/2023
